In circuit design, circuit speed is a crucial performance criteria that differentiates one from competitors. With electronic systems requiring ever increasing speed, individual components must be improved to make the designer's goals a reality.
The speed of any circuit is dictated by the time required for any signal to propagate though the circuit. One of the most rudimentary circuits used in digital circuit design is the transmission gate. FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art CMOS transmission gate 10 having a PMOS transistor 12 and an NMOS transistor 14 connected in parallel. Logic signals V and V(bar) control transistors 12 and 14 allowing a voltage on the node labeled IN to be "transmitted" to the node labeled OUT. The time associated with the voltage transmission is considered the propagation delay of transmission gate 10. As circuits require greater performance it is obvious that circuits that provide decreased propagation delay are needed.
It is an object of this invention to provide a transmission gate circuit that provides improved performance by decreasing the propagation delay through the circuit. It is another object of the invention to provide a transmission gate circuit that provides improved loading capability. It is yet another object of this invention to provide a transmission gate circuit that achieves the above goals without substantially increasing the circuit's power dissipation. Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having reference to the following specification together with the drawings herein.